San Andres Salt Trail

In the early to mid-1800s, the San Andres Salt Trail provided area residents with salt, a mineral vital for settlers on the frontier. Salt was used to preserve meat and dairy products, and for processing silver ore. In 1824, several Mexican families residing in the communities of Socorro and San Elizario established this salt trail. It extended about 90 miles from San Elizario north along the east side of the Organ Mountains to Salinas de San Andres (now Lake Lucero), located on the present White Sands Missile Range. As late as 1850, the trail provided access to salt for West Texas, New Mexico and several northern Mexican states.

The Mexican government, which ruled the area, had continued the policy set forth by Spain of reserving salt deposits for unrestricted benefit of the local public. By the 1850s, after Socorro and San Elizario became part of the United States following the U.S.-Mexico War, conflicts arose as settlers continued to mine the area, which was now claimed as private property. Noted El Paso pioneer James Magoffin, who acquired an interest in these salines in 1852, attempted to restrict access by charging mining fees. The Magoffin Salt War began when a group of miners from Doña Ana, New Mexico, accessed the land in 1854. Magoffin contacted El Paso sheriff William Ford, who gathered a posse that attacked the salineros, who abandoned their wagons, salt and oxen. Magoffin later agreed to a court ruling, returning the animals to their owners and paying restitution for damages.

The trail was seldom used commercially after the Magoffin Salt War, though ranchers and travelers occasionally used it into the 20th century. Today, it remains a testament to the importance of salt to the lives of peoples in the El Paso region and to the conflicting ideas about property rights in 19th-century Texas. (2008).